Minerva The Ethics of Cryonics

Is it Immoral to be Immortal?
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-78599-8
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 145 Seiten

Reihe: Psychology and Our Planet

Cryonics-also known as cryopreservation or cryosuspension-is the preservation of legally dead individuals at ultra-low temperatures. Those who undergo this procedure hope that future technology will not only succeed in reviving them, but also cure them of the condition that led to their demise. In this sense, some hope that cryopreservation will allow people to continue living indefinitely. This book discusses the moral concerns of cryonics, both as a medical procedure and as an intermediate step toward life extension. In particular, Minerva analyses the moral issues surrounding cryonics-related techniques (including the hypothetical cryosuspension of fetuses as an alternative to abortion) by focusing on how they might impact the individuals who undergo cryosuspension, as well as society at large. 


Francesca Minerva is FWO Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Ghent, Belgium. She has previously worked at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and she collaborates with various universities. Her main area of research is bioethics. 

Autoren/Hrsg.

Minerva, Francesca

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;6
2;Acknowledgements;8
3;Contents;10
4;Part I: Cryonics as an Ethical Problem;13
4.1;Introduction;13
4.2;Chapter 1: Pausing Death;15
4.2.1;Weird Goals;15
4.2.2;Starting and Ending Life in Liquid Nitrogen;19
4.2.3;The Information-Theoretic Criterion of Death;21
4.2.4;Public Scepticism Towards Biotechnology;24
4.2.4.1;Against Nature;25
4.2.4.2;Humans Should Not “Play God”;26
4.2.4.3;Weirdness and Repugnance;27
4.2.4.4;Uncertainty;28
4.2.4.5;Only the Rich Will Be Able to Afford It;30
4.2.5;References;33
4.3;Chapter 2: Resuming Life;35
4.3.1;Objections to Cryonics;36
4.3.2;Waste of Resources;37
4.3.2.1;Waste of Organs for Transplants;37
4.3.2.2;Waste of Money That Could Be Used for Donation to an Effective Charity;39
4.3.3;Indifference of the Future;46
4.3.3.1;No Interest in Spending Resources on Reviving the Cryopreserved;47
4.3.3.2;No Interest in Developing Cryonics Technology;48
4.3.3.3;No Interest in “Homo sapiens”;49
4.3.4;Desirability of Being Revived in the Future;50
4.3.4.1;Trouble Adapting Even to an Objectively Better World;51
4.3.5;References;54
5;Part II: Cryonics as a Step Towards Immortality;56
5.1;1.1 Introduction;56
5.2;References;59
5.3;Chapter 3: The Death Conundrum;60
5.3.1;Is Death Bad?;60
5.3.2;Death as Transition to Nonexistence;61
5.3.2.1;A Life Worth Starting and a Life Worth Living;62
5.3.2.2;Whose Nonexistence?;64
5.3.3;Death as Deprivation;66
5.3.3.1;The Harm of Deprivation;66
5.3.3.2;The Plausible Counterfactuals;68
5.3.3.3;Epistemic Disagreement About Plausible Counterfactuals;69
5.3.3.4;Death as Deprivation of Negative Counterfactuals;71
5.3.4;Death as Frustration of Desires;72
5.3.5;References;77
5.4;Chapter 4: The Immortality Conundrum;78
5.4.1;Different Types of Immortality;78
5.4.2;What Would an Indefinitely Long Life Look Like?;81
5.4.2.1;Freedom from Regrets;81
5.4.3;Personal Identity;85
5.4.4;A Recognizably Human Life;89
5.4.5;Would Virtual Immortality Deprive People of Eternity in Heaven?;94
5.4.6;Boredom;97
5.4.7;Tiredness;101
5.4.8;References;104
6;Part III: Alternative Uses of Cryonics;106
6.1;Introduction;106
6.2;Chapter 5: Cryothanasia;108
6.2.1;Objections to Euthanasia Applied to Cryothanasia;111
6.2.2;Deontological;112
6.2.3;Faith-Based;113
6.2.4;Principles of Medical Ethics;114
6.2.5;Weirdness and Repugnance;116
6.2.6;Unlikelihood and Futility;117
6.2.7;Resource Use;119
6.2.8;References;120
6.3;Chapter 6: Cryosuspension of Pregnancy;122
6.3.1;Giving Pregnant Women Another Option;124
6.3.2;Would Objections to Abortion Apply to Cryosuspension of Pregnancy?;126
6.3.2.1;What Type of “Future Like Ours”?;127
6.3.2.2;Potentiality;128
6.3.2.3;Killing an Innocent Is Always Impermissible;130
6.3.3;Reproductive Technology;131
6.3.4;Therapeutic Aid;133
6.3.5;Adoption;134
6.3.6;Ectogenesis;135
6.3.7;Limits;138
6.3.8;References;141
7;Index;143